I still have doubts Litvinenko was deliberately killed with Po-210 and believe he was part of a smuggling effort who was contaminted when an accident occurred handling the deadly material. But I must note the possibility that Berezovsky and Litvinenko not only had a falling out where Berezovsky stopped providing Litvinenko his money to exist on (confirmed by statements from Berezovsky), but that maybe Berezovsky used Litvinenko as a prop to frame Putin. The theory arises from a man who lives in Britain (and therefore is under UK, not Russian, protection) who has made claims before that he was sent by Putin to kill Berezovsky. And that these claims are the basis of Berezovsky’s long standing asylum status in the UK.

I would be remiss to point out that early on a student who had interviewed Litvinenko had made claim that Litvinenko had fallen out with Berezovsky and was planning on blackmailing people to make his living.

Julia Svetlichnaja, who met Litvinenko earlier this year and received more than 100 emails from him. In a series of interviews, she reveals that the former Russian secret agent had documents from the FSB, the Russian agency formerly known as the KGB.

…

n today’s Observer, Svetlichnaja, a politics student at the University of Westminster, says Litvinenko claimed he had access to Russian intelligence documents containing information on individuals and companies that had fallen foul of the Kremlin.

‘He told me he was going to blackmail or sell sensitive information about all kinds of powerful people, including oligarchs, corrupt officials and sources in the Kremlin,’ she said. ‘He mentioned a figure of £10,000 that they would pay each time to stop him broadcasting these FSB documents. Litvinenko was short of money and was adamant that he could obtain any files he wanted.’

It should be noted that UK papers and others tried to claim this woman was a Russian spy and was feeding the media disinformation (they like to make up their own it seems). Well the woman was vindicated in the UK courts recently after she sued for libel. So it would seem her story has some defendability. And I am still shocked at the fact this new witness is in the UK and not Russia. But nothing in this story makes a lot of sense.

The only mention of the person now identified as the mystery witness (which I posted about here) is in this attempt to disqualify a Russian documentary that is covering the Litvinenko matter. The attempt is not that successful, and there are some more interesting details the Western Media has dismissed. For example, I proposed in the previous post Litvinenko’s claims about Berezovsky and the FSB came before Putin took over the FSB with the support of Berezovsky, and seemed more of a way to save himself from prosecution for his ‘wet work’ as government assassin. Putin comes into the picture afterwards. The documentary comes to the same conclusion as I did:

“The news conference at which Litvinenko accused the FSB of a plot to murder Berezovskiy took place after it became quite clear to Litvinenko and his associates that their department would be disbanded and that they themselves might end up behind bars,” the film adds.

MP Nikolay Kovalev, former director of the FSB (in 1996-98) says: “Litvinenko was accused of unlawfully beating confessions out of those he suspected of illegal activities. Put simply, he beat people up, and beat them up systematically.” (4210)

The timing of all this between Litvinenko and Berezovsky and the early FSB claims prior to their asylum in London, and when Putin arrives on the scene, are all details not well publicized in the Western media. But of course the timing is important. As is much in the Russian documentary – if it can be backed up with some evidence. The statement regarding the new witness now pointing the finger at Berezovsky is illustrative:

Nikita Chekulin, “Litvinenko’s friend”, and his statements at Berezovskiy’s news conferences were recalled. Chekulin and his son “fled” London in fear for their lives. Berezovskiy’s fight against extradition to Russia is recalled, with participants including Vladimir Teplyuk and Litvinenko. Teplyuk’s story was that he was to assassinate, in a court of law, Berezovskiy with a poisoned pen on instructions from the Russian special services (a handy diagram of the plot). He confessed to Berezovskiy.

“The story was absurd. The British, however, readily accepted it and granted political asylum to Berezovskiy. The heart of the matter was of interest to no-one. There was no investigation.

We see the witness as another Berezovsky ally and Putin foe. So why is he turning on Berezovsky now? Maybe he is at risk and feels his only protection is to come forward. But then again his claims are wild and he could be under pressure from other corners. The point is all evidence, including the Po-210 itself, leads to Berezovsky at the moment.

Update: Some interesting tidbits from the review of the Russian documentary. They expose a lot more interaction between Lugovoi and Litvinenko and Berezovsky:

“Our principle is never to disclose our clients,” Sokolenko himself remarks. The film adds: “Had it not been for this principle, Lugovoy could have told a lot about his mutual relations with Berezovskiy, the more so in that very many circumstances in the meetings with Litvinenko and the oligarch, and later also with Scotland Yard investigators, seemed to Lugovoy to be rather strange.”

Lugovoy says: “I can’t comment on anything. There was a whole series of visits. In each of the visits, there were specific nuances which make me think about some things.” As he is prompted by a voice off camera – “Do these nuances seem to you suspicious snow?” – he concurs: “Yes, unquestionably so.” The conversation takes place in a car. (To 5045)

Previous encounters between Berezovsky and nuclear weapons:

The film then goes on to recount an episode several years ago, in which Berezovskiy said he had been approached by “a Chechen named Zakhar” with the proposal to sell a radioactive explosive device hidden in the Pankisi Gorge. Berezovskiy refused. The man who called himself Zakhar turned out to be Ruslan Abukhanov, “a bandit”, who now lives in France.

“Abukhanov took offence at Berezovskiy and swore revenge. According to him, Berezovskiy, via Akhmed Zakayev, promised 5m dollars for the bomb but then thought it was too much money, so the deal fell through,” the film filled in the details. There was no investigation, it added.

And hints that the Po-210 was evident as a dusting on the bodies and clothes of Lugovoi and Kovtun:

“The evidence against Lugovoy and Kovtun is mainly in the fact that there were traces of polonium on their bodies, clothing and in the hotel room where they stayed. Polonium was also found in Hamburg, in Kovtun’s flat, where he had been before 1 November – the date on which, officially, Litvinenko was poisoned. And there is a good explanation for that: Kovtun had met Litvinenko earlier, in mid-October. Litvinenko could have already borne traces of polonium back then. There is a theory that he was in contact with a dirty bomb,” the film goes on.

That means investigators may have the original material, and that is important. The form of the Po-210 dictates the possible uses, but also restrict where it could have been processed. It will be interesting to hear what form, metal or salt, the material was found to be in. And we get another estimate on the value of a gram of Po-210:

Dmitriy Frolov, captioned as head of security at a nuclear centre, says the Sarov centre, ex-Arzamas-16, is a secure facility. The film adds that it is the only place where polonium-210 is produced in Russia (“a single gram of it is 1bn dollars” and impossible to steal, with four levels of security at the site). Later, Frolov states there have been no
attempts to steal polonium. (5705)

All interesting details – depending on their accuracy.